Inspirations

The 2011 In Style and Warner Brothers party got a luxe, library-inspired look. This year, designer Thomas Ford is expected to give the party an underwater look and feel.

In January, Bulgari hosted a benefit at Ron Burkle’s Beverly Hills manse. Mitie Tucker Event Production transformed the dinner tent into a private library with images of bookshelves lining the walls, tables covered in faux crocodile, and lamps and books as centerpieces.

Surrounded by camellia trees, the promenade area was redone as a garden space, reminiscent of Jean Cocteau's classic La Belle et la Bête. The room highlighted Chanel's fine jewelry collection alongside flowers that shone with diamonds.

An over-size picnic table continued the warm-weather motif and provided a creative setting for the brand to showcase the brightly colored tableware in the Sandra by Sandra Lee collection.

At the Park Avenue Armory, Tommy Hilfiger fashioned an elaborate set that resembled a gated garden. The showing of his men’s collection on Friday (pictured) had café tables and chairs, and on Sunday evening, the seating switched out for benches to accommodate more attendees at the presentation of the designer’s women’s collection.

Every stage of the event experience was designed to feel personal and humanize technology. That included the door, which was marked with "Hi" on the entrance side and "Bye" on the other. Microsoft also made sure the night's hashtag, #MicrosoftExperience, was clear by placing it on signage as well as other items such as the napkins.

Inside, the first step for guests after receiving their credentials at check-in was a tour of Cortana's capabilities. The space was surrounded by curved walls, leading attendees in a circle around the perimeter of the venue.

At each station in the "outer circle" experience, guests could tap their R.F.I.D.-embedded badges and be shown Cortana's different capabilities. For instance, one displayed how the digital assistant can provide traffic updates based on a user's daily commute. The production team also worked carefully to mix in elements from the pre-event quiz at each station, illuminating the walls blue, if, for example, attendees had chosen that specific color in response to the question about their aura.

Microsoft also wanted to showcase Cortana's location-based ability, which was challenging given that guests were in one fixed place. The event team used projections to help simulate what users might experience. That included images of the nearest CVS to help illustrate answers to the question, "You dash into a drug store on your way home from work. What do you always forget?" Names were also programmed into the R.F.I.D.s, allowing the stations to recognize which attendee was interacting with it at any given time.

The reception space stood in the center of the venue, an area inside the circular tour dubbed the inner circle.

A variety of Microsoft's mobile devices were on display inside the reception space, including Surface tablets and laptops and smartphones that use the Windows operating system. The producers projected branding and the hashtag onto the inner walls.

Rather than fashion a stark, futuristic environment as many tech marketers have done for their promotional outings, Microsoft looked to humanize technology by creating a more organic and natural environment for the Inner Circle event. For the producers that included using plants and wood elements to contrast the devices on display.

The producers also built a wall of greenery designed in imitation of the live tiles used by the Windows operating system. The piece served as a backdrop for the DJ booth and, earlier in the day, a scenic stage element for the panel discussion that took place.

Other technology displayed at the event included an interactive application called Swivel, by California company FaceCake Marketing Technologies, that uses Microsoft's Kinect for Windows and the Windows Embedded 8 platform to create a virtual dressing room. Guests could stand in front of a camera and digitally try on clothes.

In another area an artist created live portraits of guests using the Fresh Paint app on a Microsoft Surface tablet. Images were displayed on a larger screen behind him.

The portraits also lived in a slideshow that was displayed on devices attached to a chandelier. Relevent built the starburst-like fixture, which hung over the bar that stood in the center of the space.

The Inner Circle event saw more than 150 attendees. The blue lighting and circular motif were a nod to how Cortana is represented on a smartphone screen.

Similarly, for the TED Conference's simulcast event, TEDActive, held in the Southern California desert last year, about 700 guests gathered for a picnic lunch. The conversation-facilitating twist was that picnic baskets were available not for individuals, but for groups of seven—so each person had to meet six new attendees with whom to eat and talk.